


At The Beginning

by transkurapika



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Anastasia AU, M/M, Trans Gon Freecs, Trans Kurapika, Trans Male Character, as in a nonbinary boy, nonbinary male kurapika, this has not been edited much and i will possibly fix it up later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-06-01 23:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6541501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transkurapika/pseuds/transkurapika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lighthearted fic which places the Hunter x Hunter characters in an Anastasia (1997) setting. This fic features trans nonbinary boy Kurapika and trans boy Gon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [my friend Josh for heavily encouraging me to finish this chapter after not touching it since August](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=my+friend+Josh+for+heavily+encouraging+me+to+finish+this+chapter+after+not+touching+it+since+August), [connorstoll (quietrook)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietrook/gifts).



> Melody's the narrator, where there is first person narration, and there are shifts in the places where focus switches from Kurapika to Leorio. This has not been edited too much, however it has been beta read by a few people who have given it positive feedback. I am set to work on the next chapter this weekend.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Events leading up to Curarpikt becoming Kurapika and how the public found about his gender identity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Melody's the narrator, where there is first person narration, and there are shifts in the places where focus switches from Kurapika to Leorio. This has not been edited too much, however it has been beta read by a few people who have given it positive feedback. I am set to work on the next chapter this weekend.

There was a time, not very long ago… 

_“I’m not a girl, Melody.”_

...When we lived in an enchanted world...

_“My darling Curarpikt… If you are not a girl, then you will make an excellent duke.”_

...of elegant palaces and grand parties.

_“You really think so? Thank you, Melody!”_

A beautiful, magical time…

_“Leorio, boy! Get back to work, don’t just idly stand there!” “Yes sir, sorry.”_

__And, that night, no star burned brighter than that of our sweet Curarpikt…_ _

_“You can’t tell anyone, Melody… It has to be_ our _secret!”_

...someone I cared for… as a son. 

_“I won’t tell a soul, Curarpikt.”_

__~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_ _

“ _Curarpikt._ ” The word sounded like a sonata flowing from Melody’s mouth, somber due to the inevitable goodbye that was to take place. However, the corners of her lips upturned into a sure smile, as she watched the tiny blond hop towards her. His small frame narrowly avoided crashing into partygoers, a tall servant running after him to tie a bow into a mess of curls.  
“Ah! Melody!” Kurapika picked up his pace, leaving his servant behind. He had many things to share with Melody since the day had started, and he wanted to complain about how his dress pinched him in some places, yet bagged around him in other places. However, the most important question was the one he asked first. “Are you really going to leave to Yorknew?”  
“I’m afraid I must, Curarpikt… But, ah, I have something for you.” Melody reached into her pocket, fingers fishing around until they touched the cool metal of the circular music box. She pulled it out of her pocket gently, revealing it to be beautifully crafted; a box made of precious metals and jewels. She put careful thought into the gift, making sure to have only the best person craft it.  
Kurapika let out an excited squeal, “for me? Is it a jewelry box?” Tiny-but nimble- hands took the box and turned it over, inspecting the gold and blue details. It was fairly small for a jewelry box, he deemed, but it was a beautiful gift. Perhaps he could fit his earrings into it.  
\--  
Leorio, a kitchen servant, looked at Kurapika with soft eyes and a grin. Surely, it was his own fault that he found himself interested in the _prince_ , as he was the one who eavesdropped in the conversation regarding gender identity that Kurapika had shared with Melody a few years back. He felt that what Kurapika had done was courageous--even if he had only come out to Melody. Someone in the royal family was expected to adhere to a certain combination of standards, and stick to the strict set of religious rules regarded as the regular within the community. _Kurapika must’ve been nervous, yet excited to share who he really was_. Leorio held a special respect and admiration for him. He would rather address Kurapika with the pronouns that were preferred.  
“Leorio! You belong in the kitchen!” Leorio groaned in protest as his arm was snatched. He was tempted to dig the soles of his shoes into the floor as he was dragged away, but he decided that his shoes were worn out too much already to pull it off. He knew better than to put up a fight, but still, he shouted for his boss to unhand him.  
\--  
Melody took the box from Kurapika, knowing full well that he would prefer it if she did not return to Yorknew. She held up a long chain--a necklace--with a small flowery pendant dangling from it, inserted the pendant into a small slot on the box, and gave it a few cranks. “Look.” The top of the box opened, revealing two dancing figures, which Kurapika recognized as his parents.  
Kurapika’s eyes widened, brown and bright, and a smile illuminated his face. “It plays the lullaby! Our lullaby! The one you taught me!” He could not contain his excitement, and he bounced on the soles of his feet. He was _ecstatic_ , though he knew that the music box would never be able to compare to Melody.  
“Mhm.” Melody nodded. “You can play it at night before you go to sleep, and you can pretend that it’s me, singing to you after you finish your day.” She took Kurapika’s tiny hand in hers, squeezing it ever so slightly as means of reassuring the both of them that things would be okay. “Let’s sing it one last time. Allow me to start, and then you finish it, yes?” Kurapika nodded excitedly. “ _On the wind, cross the sea_ …”  
Softly, Kurapika joined in, “ _hear this song and remember; soon you’ll be home with me… Once upon a December._ ” Kurapika’s smile was vibrant, the lullaby a promise between the two of them that no matter what happened they would always find one another.  
Melody gently tugged the pendant from the music box, and handed the entirety of the necklace to Kurapika, “here. Read what it says.” She watched as Kurapika touched the chain before picking at the pendant, twiddling and moving it around to try and read the engravings.  
As he found the order of the words, he started voicing them with a slight difficulty; English was not his first language, but it was a universal one here. “Togeth... together… in… Yorknew!” He gasped quietly and bounced up; his hands clutched the pendant close to his chest and grinned, “Really?” Melody nodded, causing Kurapika to throw his arms around her and squeeze with all his might. “Oh, thank you, Melody! Thank you!” He knew that the moment he was able to reunite with Melody in Yorknew that she would help him sort things out. A press conference, or maybe a newspaper article, perhaps both-just to announce the grand duke of Kuruta. If there was one person that would help Kurapika come out, it would be Melody.  
Melody and Kurapika both wished the hug could last forever, however, their embrace was short-lived and interrupted by a gasp from a party goer. The music seemed to have faded to a stop, and all life appeared to cease as well. Everyone had fallen silent and the reason why had soon become apparent. _Chrollo Lucilfer_. A young, but promising thief and scoundrel. He stalked through the room, his bat-like (yet awfully confused and rather childish) apprentice, Shalnark, trailed behind him. Someone dropped a glass through sweaty and shaky fingers, but Chrollo paid no heed to it and crushed it beneath the sole of his shoe as he made his way to the king.  
The king, Kurapika’s father, pointed a rather accusatory finger at Chrollo. “You… How dare you return to the palace; you are not welcome here!”  
Chrollo grinned, and if a stranger had seen him they would not have been able to pick out the malicious intent behind the warped smirk. “Not welcome here? But… I am your confidante.” Previously, Chrollo had been regarded as a child prodigy; first working as a confidante when he was sixteen; however now he was regarded as a liar and a cheat, his credibility gone within two years of his position.  
“Confidante!” The king let out a sarcastic laugh, short and mocking. “Chrollo Lucilfer! You are not my confidante! You are a traitor!” He flung his hand out, pointing to the door, “Get out!”  
Chrollo laughed gently, which seemed to unsettle those around him even further. He pulled a book out, flipping through the pages, “Sir… did you really believe you could banish me? With the unholy power vested in me, I will banish you with a curse.” The volume of his voice remained quiet, and that caused a shiver to jolt down the king’s spine as the crowd gasped at Chrollo’s words. “Mark my words. You and your family shall die within the fortnight. I shall not rest until I see the end of the Kurta line forever.” Chrollo scrawled something down in his book, sending a bolt of lightning towards the chandelier to create a diversion. When the smoke cleared, he and Shalnark had vanished from sight. 

_From that moment on, the spark of unhappiness in our country was fanned into a flame that would soon destroy our lives forever._

__Chrollo stood outside with the rest of his henchmen: the Phantom Troupe. His instructions were brief, “Go fulfill your dark purpose, and seal the fate of the Kurta once and for all. They never gave you a chance in this country, but I have. This is our chance. We must take it.”  
\--  
_Chrollo Lucilfer_ was a traitor. He was nothing short of one, having stolen precious jewels and pendants from the king on numerous occasions, before stealing a glance at the royal guard’s “most wanted” list. From there he was able to find other wretched people; Machi, Uvogin, Feitan, Nobunaga, Pakunoda, and Franklin. They branched out more, and eventually found Shalnark and a few others. Each founding troupe member -now including Chrollo- had a bounty on their heads, but now Chrollo was the one placing a bounty on the Kurta family, and they would be dead within a week. _They should be_.  
\--  
The king tried shuffling his family out of the palace, nearly begging them to run with all their might. He had feebly attempted to keep his family safe and hidden in the palace, but within a few days even the guards had turned on them, persuaded by the Troupe, and then protestors were allowed to make way towards the palace. If they were unable to leave the palace inconspicuously, then surely they would all perish.  
Kurapika broke away from the group, silently whispering to himself about his music box. The young boy knew that now was not the time to be stressing about such things, but he could not help it. If Melody was going to be parting after this, he would like to have the music box to remember her by; to help lull him to sleep. Melody tried grabbing his hand, taking note that the King had not noticed (he had been too busy sneaking past guards with the other family members to even glance back) and had left both of them behind, and Kurapika ran off.  
“Curarpikt! Come back here! Curarpikt!” Melody shook her head quickly and ran after Kurapika, trying to match his pace and be wary of the sharp turns he was making to get to his bedroom. Kurapika had already snuck back to his room, gripping onto the music box with all of his might. Melody tugged at a strand of her hair nervously, “Curarpikt! Please hurry!”  
Melody’s yelling had alarmed Leorio, who had been cooped up in the servant's quarters, a hand cupped over his mouth to try and conceal his identity as much as he could. He still had a lot of his life to live, and he had only accepted a job as a servant to try and help his family out. _Like hell if he was going to die over a nickel an hour_. Leorio shuffled closer to the door of the quarters, removing his hand from over his mouth to slide the door away. His eyes scanned the darkened room and took sight of Kurapika--sweet, beautiful Kurapika--turning the room into a pigsty.  
“It’s around here somewhere, Melody! I need the music box!” Kurapika opened up his dollhouse and quickly grabbed the tiny box in his left hand, grabbing Melody’s hand with his right. “I found it! We can leave now!” He was reckless, nearly everyone knew, even Leorio, who silently cursed when he heard the guards banging on the door.  
Leorio stepped out of the small entrance, and grabbed Melody’s hand, “Quickly! Out this way, hurry and go!” He had not thought much about his actions, having decided fairly quickly that, no, he would not die for a nickel an hour, but he would risk it for Kurapika. “I’ll distract them, just go!” He urged Melody into the small entrance, and then tried urging Kurapika, but the small blond had dropped his music box.  
“Wait! My music box-”  
Leorio pushed Kurapika through the entrance. “Just go!” He slammed the door shut, hearing Kurapika and Melody’s retreating footsteps. Before he had time to breathe a sigh of relief, the main door to the room swung open, and a soldier came in. Although the spiders were in charge of the raid, Shalnark managed to get the soldiers to help. No mind control, just the promise of money was enough to win them over. Leorio looked around, eyes searching for anything that he could use as a weapon.  
“Where’s the Duchess?”  
Leorio picked up a board and threw it at the soldier. “He's not a Duchess! He's not a girl! He’s a prince!” If these were going to be his possible last moments, he was going to respect Kurapika with all his might. Leorio was not an idiot. He knew that Kurapika wanted to be addressed in a masculine matter, and if this was going to be Leorio’s only chance to do so, he was definitely going to take it. The servant knew that even if Kurapika was not there to hear him, the Kuruta would appreciate it. The soldier struck him, a blow landing on the base of his neck, and he was out, his last thought a silent prayer hoping that his prince made it out alright.  
One of the soldiers tapped the other one on the back, “A Prince, did you hear that?”  
“Yeah. How much you think a story like that is worth?”  
“About as much as this whole raid is. The press eats shit like this up. Looks like even the Royals weren’t perfect.”  
\--  
Melody had managed to tug Kurapika through the small quarters, dragging him out of the burning building. The dowager shared a special connection with Kurapika, seeing him as a child or a grandchild even though the two shared no blood relations. Melody had met the little blond (then brunette) child on a trip to Kuruta to discuss the relationship of Kuruta and Yorknew. The child was loud, reaching Melody’s sensitive ears with no problems, and he was oh so energetic. He caused a ruckus in the palace, making the guards complain about the number of times that he tried to escape to see outside of the walls, but Melody could sense he was a strong soul. Kurapika, even as a child, gave off a very independent vibe, but it had a touch of sadness and loneliness to it. Sympathy. Melody felt sympathy for this child. And soon she would feel love for him as well.  
Melody had to drag Kurapika behind her, as he seemed distraught about the well-being of his family and friends. He constantly looked behind him, and during one of the times he noticed that there was a looming black figure behind him.  
“Melody…” Kurapika’s voice was barely above a whisper. Melody shushed him, running towards the train. The next time Kurapika called out for Melody was when Chrollo jumped suddenly, grabbing hold of the tiny blond’s leg. The impact of the jump shattered the ice beneath them, dragging Chrollo into the water slightly as he clutched Kurapika’s leg.  
“Let me go, please!”  
“No, I don’t think I will.” Chrollo had soon decided that even if he died to ensure that every last Kurta died, it would not matter. If you were to remove the head of the spider, it would continue to crawl- that’s the idea he held for his troupe.  
Kurapika kicked, trying to get free. He knew that if Chrollo slipped any further into the water it would be endgame for both of them. “Oh, let me go!” He tried to kick harder, but Chrollo dug his nails into Kurapika’s leg.  
The ice cracked again, and it sent Chrollo’s lower half under the water. He let go of Kurapika’s leg briefly, when Kurapika slammed his foot onto Chrollo’s fingers, and the blond wasted no time to jump up--further shattering the ice--and run off. Chrollo slipped under the water, sputtering as he went, as Shalnark and Pakunoda tried to run over to help him out, but it was too late to reach him. 

__Melody continued to run with Kurapika, with only one thought on her mind. She knew that the chances of them reuniting with the King at this moment were unlikely, so it would be best if she headed to Yorknew like planned, but with the addition of taking Kurapika along with her. She would take care of him until the King could safely return to the palace. _If he is still alive, that is._ “Oh, Curarpikt, hurry!” Melody climbed onto the train and tried to lift Kurapika up, but it was crowded and the train had lurched to a start.  
“Melody!” Kurapika squeezed Melody’s hand tightly, trying not to be left behind. He was an intelligent child and could understand that nothing would ever be the same after this event. He knew that the probability of his entire family surviving this night was slim, but he clung to the hope that they would be alright come morning light.  
“Hold onto my hand, Curarpikt!” Even as Melody said this, Kurapika could not keep up with the train, and his hand was slowly slipping out of hers. Melody tried again to lift Kurapika aboard, but Kurapika let out a whine to indicate that it hurt too much to try and tug him up with brute force.  
Kurapika tried to grasp Melody’s hand, “Don’t let go…” He was scared- he had already been separated from his family, and now to be separated from Melody as well. The child would not be able to handle being ripped away from everything so abruptly, but ripped away he was, as his hand slipped out of Melody’s.  
“Oh! Curarpikt!” Melody tried to reach out and stop Kurapika from falling, but the blond was out of reach. Kurapika fell with such grace, it only made sense that he was a prince, and as he tumbled backward a few tears pricked out of his eyes. He kept his gaze fixated on Melody until his head hit the ground with an awful thud that caused his eyes to roll back into his skull.  
“Curarpikt!” Melody tried to climb out of the train, but two men held her back, telling her it was unsafe to exit the vehicle while it was moving. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t escape their grasps and had to remain on the vehicle, watching as Kurapika’s figure got smaller and smaller as the distance between them increased. 

__~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_ _

_So many lives were destroyed that night… What had always been was now gone forever. And Curarpikt, the darling who I cared for as a son… I never saw him again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the spacing makes it hard to read let me know and I will fix it. Any comments and/or thoughts may be left here or you can contact me @instantlovers on tumblr and @curawrpikt on twitter

**Author's Note:**

> If the spacing makes it hard to read let me know and I will fix it. Any comments and/or thoughts may be left here or you can contact me @instantlovers on tumblr and @curawrpikt on twitter


End file.
